I just returned
from a very successful AHRExpo in Chicago. Read my review
of this record breaking show of over 62,000 attendees, 10 acres of
exhibits,
from over 130 countries. This all flies in the face of the digital
world and the Internet of Things replacing good old face to face
interaction and networking.

So what was my take
away from this massive
show? People are our only asset, technology may come and go but
at the core of the industry is the same people that have been there for
years. The problem is these core people are growing older and
much of the discussion at this record breaking event was that we all
need to plant new people, nourish them, and help them grow.

All of our
education
sessions also returned the conclusion that people are the only assets.
Your company's and industry's technologies may come and go but the
people are our only true asset that remain and recreates and keeps the
industry strong.

This greatly
increases the importance of the induction of new blood, younger folks
with IoT smarts into our industry. If we are to build on our existing
assets, the people, then we need to invest in education and transfer of
the knowledge of our assets. We need to look new talent as a
investment that can greatly increase our existing assets.

These new folks to
our industry will likely not have the necessary training and will need
to quickly jump the skills gap and a lot of discussion occurred about
this in Chicago. The general
conclusion is that the requirement of the incoming folks is one that
they need to be curious and have an unbridled desire to learn and are
prepared to fail early then relearn quickly. The word younger
implies
that they have grown up in an IoT world which
gives them a different view on how they will learn. They need access to
our existing assets, the valuable knowledge locked in the older minds
of
our industry, but we yet have not devised the best method of this
knowledge transfer.

The ControlTrends Awards event was held next to the AHRExpo Exhibit hall. A great event
very well attended that echoed the exits and entrance on life's
stage of our great asset. See CTA review and videos

As always this issue is a nest of
great articles, columns, reviews, new products,
interviews and of course the steady stream of news depicting our
rapidly evolution and journey.

Welcome our newest sponsors:

Delta Controls
is a BACnet leader and one of the largest independent manufacturers of
building automation systems with more than 300 installers in over 80
countries.

buildpulse is a Data historian and FDD engine that works with new and legacy control systems.

Neptronic
is a HVAC BACnet products manufacturer offering a complete line of HVAC
controls that provide configurable, cost-effective and time saving
solutions for all your building management needs.

Tell all our sponsors you saw their ads on the AutomatedBuildings.com
web site and thank them for supporting your free access to evolving
Automated Building Industry information. Click on their ads and view
their valuable products and services. Please review all Our
Sponsors.
The news
just keeps flowing thru our web site and RSS feeds daily, and of course
the only way to truly find what you are looking for in the vast
quantity of information on our site is with our site search engine http://www.automatedbuildings.com/search/sitesearch.htm

As always lots of new products, plus be sure to check our event
calendar to see the number of events we have in our future.